TER APPEL to VEENDAM
We can see we are back in the Netherlands as we cruise down the Musssel and Stads Canal, the window decorations are all in two’s which seems to be the window decoration for all of the Netherlands.
On this stretch many of the bridges are small pedestrian swing bridges which are worked manually by a travelling lock keeper who also works the larger road bridges and the locks. It is a slow way of travelling as each bridge and lock has to be opened and then closed after we pass through before he gets on his bicycle, moped or car and travels to the next one.
This fella gave us quite a surprise, as we passed by he spat a stream of water, the statue I mean not the man! 
We see quite a bit of pipe art like these two fishermen and the bike as we go along.
One should never be in a hurry to arrive at a particular place, we travelled 24 km in 9 hours and then had to stop for a day as they don’t work on Sundays. We had a nice little jetty to moor alongside so it was quite a nice place to have a day of rest and to chat to the locals.
On Monday we cruised through Veendam which has 27 bridges and two locks in 9 km all opened by a young man who rides his bicycle along the canal.
From Veendam we cruised up the Winschoterdiep which was very interesting as we pass by several big shipbuilding yards.
GRONINGEN
After an overnight stop, we arrived in Groningen Motor Boat Club and were met by Russel and Penny in their boat Arcturis with Laurie and Jean who were visiting from Perth, and Bob and Lois in Anemoon. . It was great to get together and we had drinks and a BBQ on Arcturis that night.
We rode around Groningen visiting the town square and the markets
The different old buildings in one place are always interesting.
We visited a lovely garden right in the city with beautiful roses and a walk through arcade of vines.
Inside the arcade
We left Groningen to travel down the Noord Holland canal to Assen to meet Diana and Arthur who had travelled from Herenveen to meet us there.
On the way we passed this barge covered in pots of orange and purple petunias. I think they were having a disagreement on which colour to paint the boat. Do they match the flowers with girl colours or have boy colours.
ASSEN
Russel, Penny, Lois and Bob come in our boat down to Assen for the day to catch up with Diana and Arthur. We took 6.5 hours waiting for bridges to open and to go through the locks to reach Assen and it will take a 30 minute train ride to go back to Groningen.
Assen has a very good new harbour, the facilities are good and it is the least expensive marina we have been in in the Netherlands. The Shops and restaurants are within 100 metres of the harbour.
The weather has been really good and we eat al fresco in the evenings. No doubt about it when travelling by boat you get very friendly with the neighbours both on and off the boat.
We visited a 5 hectare garden right in the heart of Assen called Overcingel which has been the home of the Van Lier Lels family since the 1778. We were told to knock on the door of the main house and we were greeted by the owner who welcomed us to wander in the garden. It is a wild garden with seats nestled in amongst the natural vegetation under Oak trees which are over 300 years old. The beautiful Beech tree in this photo has the branches propped up as they spread out over the garden.
While shopping we spoke to this young couple who had a young baby and had a baby capsule fitted on their bike. When bicycles are the only transport you make the best of it.
We also took this shot of mum, baby and the pusher out shopping.
DIEVER and DWINGELOO
We left Assen and travelled down the Drenthe Hoofvaart to Dieverbrug which is a small town on the canal in between Diever National Park and Dwingeloo National Park.
The moorings are all along the canal side which is very pleasant. It is a great spot for boats and right opposite up by the bridge is a garage which also has a pump on the canal so it is easy to get fuel if needed.
We rode our bikes to Diever to see the very old stone structures like a mini Stonehenge.
On the way we passed a garage sale and I bought a lovely brass pot for my plants. Kevin thought it looked more like a Roman helmet. All big boys are really little boys at heart.
We also stopped to see this Gypsy caravan, there were two in the driveway and the owner came out and showed us the one they were restoring and the one they had finished and used for holidays pulled by a tractor.
After seeing the rocks and talking to a young couple visiting them we rode back into town for lunch. 
Soon it was lunchtime and after gazing at the menu, all in dutch of course our choice was very tasty. As we were eating a ‘Gypsy’ caravan similar to the one we saw in the morning went by.
Soon it was time to ride back to the boat and another evening al fresco meal. What good weather we are having.
Next day we rode to Dwingeloo Town and National Park. On the way we saw these sheep which looked like brown and white dogs.
and these cows who looked like they had blankets on their back.
We have been to Innaloo and now Dwingeloo.
We found the tourist bureau called the VVV in Holland and got a map as I wanted to see the heather in flower and this park is well known for its large areas of heather. Next to the VVV we saw these bikes out front. In Holland there is a bike for everyone. And of course leave Arthur and Kevin alone and boys will be boys.
We rode into the Park following bike paths to reach the heather fields which we found out were on the other side of the park. On the way we passed a family having a caravan holiday.
It was very pretty and half way through the forest area we came across this welcome café which was run by solar power and even had a charging point for electric bikes. This year we have noticed a lot of electric bikes in Holland.
Thank goodness I had the battery in my bike as we looked like riding a long way once we realised the map was not to scale.
We had been riding past patches of heather which weren’t very colourful and another bike group told us it was not very good this year as an insect had started to destroy a lot of heather all over Europe this year. Just my luck, riding for kilometres and no heather. Finally we came to a good bit then we headed for the shortest way home.
While we were here the house opposite was getting a new thatch roof, it was interesting watching it progress over the three days.
Next morning Diana and Arthur left heading back to Rotterdam.
And we turned back to the turnoff for the Turf Route, which is a small canal which weaves it way through the old villages and areas where they dug peat in the early days.
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